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Working Moms Tied Up in Outdated Regulations

Like many moms with young kids, Rhea Lana Riner was struggling to live on a very tight budget. While some moms were buying name-brand outfits for their children, Rhea Lana was digging through consignment stores and garage sales to find the best deals. As her kids outgrew their clothing, she would sell them at her own garage sales but couldn't earn enough to keep her budget balanced.

Frustrated by the experience, Rhea Lana decided to invite other cost-conscious moms to get together to buy and sell each other's clothes at her home. Every sale attracted more families eager to sell and buy, so she moved to larger venues. Some of the consignment moms started volunteering to help at the community events.

Hundreds of young families were helped by Rhea Lana's Children's Clothing Exchange, the poorest of whom thanked her while fighting back tears. She moved the sales online, then started franchising the process to help parents and kids beyond her hometown. Last year, 51 Rhea Lana events were held across 22 states.

Her ingenious solution to a common problem earned her an award from Enterprising Women and a mention on Inc. Magazine’s list of the fastest growing companies. Another great American success story, right?

It was, until the U.S. Department of Labor decided that moms helping moms was a Very Bad Thing.

A big part of our success are the hundreds of parents — both consignors and shoppers — who voluntarily work brief shifts to help set up before the sale starts. In exchange, these parents get to shop first with more choices and better merchandise.

In January, though, the Department of Labor noticed all this cooperation going on. Months later, investigators concluded that volunteers are "employees" under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

This means paying the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour, filling out IRS paperwork and complying with who-knows-what other rules. And all for a pop-up business that lasts days.

Rhea Lana notes that these moms aren’t employees, they’re customers struggling to clothe their growing families and help others in the process. “By this dreadful logic,” she says, “Build-a-Bear Workshop employs child labor when it lets its young customers assemble their own teddy bears.”

The Obama Administration hasn’t noticed that times have changed. They are clumsily trying to enforce labor laws designed for the factory floor, not at the nexus of the Internet and community activism.

The free market always moves faster than the bureaucracy, which is what makes it so effective. Washington, D.C.’s running battles with food trucks and the popular Uber transportation service prove that red tape chokes innovation and consumer choice. And that hits both buyers and sellers right in the pocketbook.

Like so many Americans, Rhea Lana is being punished for success. Her customers also are being punished for daring to cooperate with other moms without first asking permission from faceless bureaucrats in an out-of-touch capital city.

With their endless appetite for taxing and spending, the Beltway has made it tough enough to make ends meet. They shouldn’t make it even worse by dropping hundreds of regulations on the backs of low-income families.

At the next 51 Rhea Lana's events (hopefully held this year) should be posted in fairly large text/format by the front door, a reprint of this article so that stupid people (dumbocrats/commecrats) might see a lightbulb go off. The worthless ACLU might want to set up a voter registration booth coaxing people to vote for conservative candidates espousing a limited form of government - you know, like we used to have in America. American public enemy #1: dumbocrats.

Sen. Murkowski isn't the only one with a resolution to stop the EPA from regulating greenhouse gases under its endangerment finding. Like the 41 Senators now backing the Murkowski resolution, a similar bipartisan efforts is now underway in the House:
Two top House Democrats have introduced a measure aimed at blocking the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating pollution-causing greenhouse gases.

Apparently a mere $10 billion in FY11 isn't enough for EPA Adminstrator Lisa Jackson to finish her diabolical economy crushing plan. So she trekked up to the Hill this week looking for more taxdollars to pay for greenhouse gas regs.

Jan 2nd the WSJ had an interesting piece suggesting that a Dem majority might keep card check at bay. While that might seem like an oxymoron of sorts, the op-ed did raise some thought-provoking points and suggested that the specter of card check actually passing might keep some former supporters at bay.

In keeping with Labor Day traditions the nation over, yesterday many got a day off to reflect on all the wonderous things labor unions have done for America - most notably, getting us a day off at the end of the summer - but also prevailing wage, increased costs, and lower productivity.

Did you grow your own sugar? Did you build your own laptop? Maybe, but odds are you didn't. You almost certainly traded money for sugar and your laptop.
We buy things because we don't have the time, resources or know-how to make them ourselves. Heck, sometimes, we're just too lazy, (thank God for Domino's Pizza). A sensible person will always buy a product if it's cheaper than making it himself.
This is why countries trade as well. A nation will buy goods from another if it is cheaper than making them at home.
I like free trade. You should, too.